<title>Interaction between polarization and response vs. scan angle in the calibration of imaging radiometers</title>

Recent efforts in Earth remote sensing have focused on accurately measuring top-of-atmosphere and surface leaving radiances. Imaging radiometers such as GOES and MODIS have observed response vs. scan angle variations that are related to the polarization response of the instrument and must be accounted for in the calibration of the instrument. This paper presents the mathematical relationship between the polarization response of an instrument an its response vs. scan angle. It demonstrates the correlation between the two using MODIS pre-launch system level polarization and response vs. scan angle measurements. The ability to determine an instrument's polarization response post-launch from response vs. scan angle data is discussed.